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Why should we eat as a family?

Family mealtimes are a great opportunity for you and your baby to spend time together (Scaglioni et al 2011). Eating as a family helps to introduce your baby to lots of different healthy foods, as your food choices will naturally be wider than hers.

Eating together lets your baby see you and other family members enjoying food, and maybe chatting about what you all like to eat (Agostini et al 2008, Scaglioni et al 2011).

Best of all, your baby will see that healthy mealtimes can be pleasurable. This will help to set a healthy-eating habit that could last her a lifetime.

Which family foods can my baby share?

Soon after you start weaning your six-month-old baby, you can let her share healthy, home-cooked family meals. Encourage your baby to try a range of foods (BNF 2013) as soon as she is old enough to cope with them.

You can adapt most meals to suit your baby just by changing the texture, for example by mashing or chopping the food more finely. If your baby is eating family food, don’t add salt or sugar during cooking (BNF 2013). You can always add salt or sugar to your own meal afterwards.

To save time, you can prepare food in batches and freeze individual portions to be used later (BNF 2013). Ice cube trays with lids are ideal for this.

Always check that what the family is eating is suitable for your baby. There are some family foods that you shouldn’t give to her before she’s one year old, such as nuts and honey. Find out which foods are safe to give your baby from six months to one year.

If you’re not used to cooking, try not to worry. Now's a great time to learn the basics and family meals don't have to be complicated. Ask family and friends for tips, or chat to other mums in our community to pick up some ideas. Your health visitor and local children's centre can also give you lots of advice about simple family meals.

Fresh food can be surprisingly affordable. Look out for special offers, and try to buy fruits and vegetables when they’re in season. Frozen or tinned vegetables and fruit (in juice or water rather than syrup, and with no added salt or sugar), have good amounts of vitamins and minerals. These can be useful to add variety to meals at short notice. If you have leftovers, turn vegetables into soup and fruit into puddings or fruit purees (Habeat 2014).

The government's healthy start scheme helps new mums on a low income. If you’re eligible for the scheme, you're entitled to weekly vouchers to spend on milk, and fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables.

Baby-led weaning

Another way to let your baby join in with mealtimes is to try the baby-led weaning approach. This means letting your baby feed herself with finger foods from the start of weaning.

Baby-led weaning introduces your baby to family foods and mealtimes with the rest of the family from the outset. You won't need to prepare purees separately from the rest of the family's food (Wright et al 2011). Start with fingers of ripe fruits and cooked vegetables that are soft and skinned or peeled.

As your baby becomes more confident with tastes and textures, she can try more of what you eat. Always check fish or meat for bones, and remove the skin from sausages.

There isn't much in the way of research into different styles of weaning. One study found that babies weaned the baby-led way joined in with more family mealtimes, and ate more family foods (Brown and Lee 2012). Parents said they found it a less stressful approach in general (Brown and Lee 2012).

However, babies do develop at different paces. If your baby isn't ready to pick up food and put it in her mouth, baby-led weaning won't be right for her at first (Wright et al 2011).

Which approach to family mealtimes you choose is up to you. A mixture of approaches is probably best: some purees or well-mashed foods as well as finger foods, so that your baby gets a variety of textures and nutrients.

Routine and regular mealtimes

Your baby will love having a daily routine, so she feels secure about what each day holds. This includes having regular mealtimes and snack breaks. You’ll probably find it easier to get into a regular mealtime routine if you make the effort from the start of weaning. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to introduce the concept of regular mealtimes to your child (Rudolf 2009).

You may not be able to share every mealtime with your baby, especially if you're a working parent. But it’s worth trying to eat at least one meal with your baby every day. You could share breakfast each morning, for example. It may be challenging, but you can comfort yourself with the thought that you, your baby, and your family will probably reap the rewards for a long time to come.

We know that families who eat together are more likely to eat healthily. They're also more likely to eat a wider range of foods, with more fruit and vegetables and dairy products. Invest the time now, and you may find that as your child grows, she's more likely to stick with the healthy habits you've set (Scaglioni et al 2011).

Tips for happy family mealtimes

Try to make mealtimes calm, unhurried and relaxed. Make this your ideal to aim for and don't feel bad if mealtimes become more rushed than relaxed sometimes!

One tip is to keep distractions to a minimum so that you can enjoy each other’s company. So turn off the TV, tablet, or radio and switch off your phones during mealtimes (ITF 2012, Moreno Rodriguez 2007). If you can't manage a leisurely meal together every day, and not many of us can, aim for once or twice a week.

If your baby doesn't want to eat a particular food, or she’s had enough, don't coax, bribe, or pressure her into eating. It can lead to family meals becoming an anxious time. Offer your baby small portions and always go at her pace. You’ll soon know the signs that she's had enough to eat – she may stop eating, push her food away, or turn her head away. If she does, simply take her plate away.

Don't be put off if your baby makes odd facial expressions when she's eating something new. It doesn't necessarily mean that she doesn't like the food. She may just be surprised by the unfamiliar taste (Habeat 2014).

Your baby will learn by copying you, as you're her biggest role model. So try to set a good example by eating regular, home-prepared meals (Habeat 2014). If you are used to skipping meals and snacking on unhealthy food, you may find the motivation to change now you know that eating more healthily will help your baby.

Share your baby's food too. For example, if your baby is having soft, cooked carrot fingers, add some to your plate and tell her how much you like what you’re eating.

Your baby may take time to learn to like a new food. Be patient, but persistent. It may take eight or more tries, at separate times, for your baby to accept a food (Habeat 2014). If you don't like a particular food, you could treat this as an opportunity to learn to like it. When you offer a new food to your baby, try some yourself – you never know, after a few tries you may like it!

References

Agostoni C, Braegger C, Decxi T, et al. 2011. ESPGHAN committee on nutrition. Role of dietary factors and food habits in the development of childhood obesity: a commentary by the ESPGHAN committee on nutrition. Position paper. JPGN 52(6):662-669. www.espghan.med.up.pt [Accessed July 2014]

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